Appreciate the posts, I was thinking of buying the same as I love watching the streams, but I’ve never touched a SC game before.
Hey guys I’m writing up the Auto-GI properties for each character. Should be out soon! Thanks for being patient! As of 2/25 I’ve added another segment.
Because it doesn’t get done enough, although some people already have, I’d like to extened a big thumbs up for putting in the work to do this.
VI. Counter Hits and a Lengthy Lecture on Safety.
[details=Spoiler]VI. Counter Hitting and a lecture on Safety.
** A. Counter Hitting - **
Let’s talk about Counter Hitting (CH) for a moment. A counter hit is when you hit your opponent while they are attacking OR hitting them with a Horizontal attack while sidestepping. Some moves (such as Patroklos’ 3BBB) have extra CH properties that only come into play if the move interrupts another move. In the previous example, an extremely useful crumple stun is tacked on to the last hit of Pat’s 3BBB if he interrupts an opponent.
Now why are CH moves useful? It’s mostly because CH moves usually have another useful property in addition to the counter-hit bonus. For example Pat’s 3BBB is only 15 frames on the first hit. A 15 frame move that has the potential to cause a crumple stun is very good.
** B. A Lecture on Safety -**
So you’ve been online and perhaps you’ve earned a 10 win streak religiously using Nightmare’s 3B. But on that 11th battle something goes wrong, all of a sudden your world falls apart as you realize that your competitor knows how to counter the almighty 3B!
[FONT=arial] Well friend, you’ve just had your first cruel lesson in the most fundamental aspect of Soul Calibur. Safety.
Now the term safety varies among the archetypes of each character. For Close Range Characters safety means using attacks that are low on frame disadvantage (ex. Pat’s 66B is -2 on block, meaning it’s essentially unpunishable) and have moderately fast start-up (between 14-20ish frame start-up is ideal) . For long range characters like Fraudmare (cough Nightmare) being safe means you stay near the tip of your gargantuan sword.
Many new people complain that Nightmare is a very fast character, well technically speaking Nightmare isn’t fast. A good Nightmare user stays at the tip of sword length so that his attacks can’t be punished by shorter ranged weapons. Also since you (the short ranged weapon user) can’t apply pressure at your opponent’s range, he seems to be able to seamlessly link moves at a blurring pace
Now I wish I could help everyone figure out safe moves. But then I would be writing this guide for days. But later on this lecture I’ll address how to do it yourself. (marked by bold lettering)
Anyway let’s talk frame advantage and disadvantage, the two key aspects of safety.
First I’ll lecture (yup you’re in Soul School after all) about disadvantage
Ex. Pat’s Justice Drive is -20 on block and thus leaves the user at a disadvantage.
When dealing with moves, a negative number denotes an on-block disadvantage. A disadvantage means that you cannot move for the number of frame’s listed. Essentially meaning that your next attack has the number of on-block frames of the last move tacked onto the start-up of the next move (ex. A 13 frame move would become a 15 frame one if you were at a -2 disadvantage and you wanted to immediately attack after hitting a guarding opponent.)
QUIZ TIME:
So lets pretend I use a 15 frame move that has a block penalty of -5. Theoretically speaking how long would it take my next move to come out if the opponent guarded my previous attack? ( x = frames of next move)
A. 5 + x
B. 5 - x
C. y = mx + b
D. Skullgirls
If you answered 5 + x you’re correct. I have 5 additional start-up frames on my next move due to the on block penalty of -5 (thus it would take 20 frames for my next attack to connect).
But some moves (not most of them) leave you at a frame advantage. Frame advantage is denoted by a positive number. An advantage means you can move x amount of frames before your opponent. This is why Wolverine’s derp kick in MVC is frustratingly good. It leave’s the user at nearly 11 frames of advantage. Ivy’s 1B + (A+B+K), aka Prophecy’s Pledge, leaves the user at 12 frames of advantage.
QUIZ TIME:
So lets say I’m using a move that has 5 frames of advantage on block and I want to link a move that has a start-up of 17 frames. My opponent wants to use a move that has a start up of 15 frames. Will I beat them?
A. Yes.
B. No.
The answer is A. Theoretically I should beat them.
Now, the question probably going through everyone’s mind is “How do I acquire big advantage bonuses? The answer is simple; usually, a sizeable advantage bonus comes from Break Attacks and Brave Edge attacks. These specific attacks could potentially leave you in the 10+ on-block advantage range.
But perhaps some are wondering why this is a big deal.
Well, I’ll briefly converse on that.
You see, Soul Calibur V runs on a smooth as butter 60 frames per second. A second is usually “One Mississippi”. At 10+ advantage is about the length of the word “one” in that phrase. Within the span of the word “one” I have nearly endless possibilities of what I could do for my next move.
Anyway if you want to figure out pretty safe moves (without having a guide book), go into training and fight against Patroklos. Change the CPU to attack after blocking and select Justice Drive for the punishing move. JD has only 15 frames of start-up and it will knock your ass half-way across the arena if you screw-up using an unsafe move. If you can defend yourself after your attack then the move is safe.
Phew, alright class. The next lecture deals with annoying moves that beginners see as an insurmountable wall.
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Thank you so much Firebranded. I’m new to SoulCalibur and I have learned a lot from your guide. I registered an account here just to say thank you to you :). Please keep going.
Let me just add to the excitement. Firebranded very well done.
Thanks so much firebrand. ^^
Tagging this thread since I couldn’t find the regular SC5 thread.